My New Blog

IMPACT IN POLK

July 18th, 2017 9:29 AM

Barbara’s Blog:

Recently, I heard from a very reliable source that the land
in front of Ridgewood Lakes community would not be developed for quite a while
since the owners have just declared bankruptcy.While that is good news for some, it means that we still will not have
any potential retail or restaurant development opportunities in this immediate
vicinity.

Also from a reliable source was the fact that Darden
Enterprises who own Red Lobster, Bahama
Breeze, Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, and other national restaurant
chains was ready to build two restaurants along Hwy 27 near Posner Park.What stopped them was the high impact fees
and the inability to negotiate with Polk County and come to agreeable
terms.Again, we are the ones who lose.

Looking around, it is easy to see all the construction of new
restaurants in Orange County, specifically on Hwy. 192 just north of here.Then there are several new sit-down
restaurants being constructed just over the Polk County line near Walmart in
Lake County. Now add all the growth and
development recently in Champions Gate at Exit 58, which happens to be Osceola
County.There you have the Four Corners
area (where the counties of Polk, Orange, Lake and Osceola meet) and the ONLY
county not getting the restaurants is Polk!Yes, we have recently been given Chick-Fil-A and Hardees will open soon
in front of Publix, but we still do not have the formal sit-down restaurants
that people are desperate to have.

It seems the impact fees that are paid back to the county for
construction and development are higher in Polk County than in the other
three.Also higher are the school impact
fees and restaurant fees.We are
competing with the other counties located only a few miles from here for the
businesses that we want and we are
losing out.

So, it is
time to let the Polk County Commissioners know that we need and expect local
retail stores and formal restaurants in Davenport!Not only would it create local jobs, but it
would alleviate some of the traffic snarls on I-4 as well.